Letters: Bird flu risk

N'est-ce pas, innit?

Sir: I was pleased to see your front page dedicated to the risk of bird flu reaching Britain (25 August). I believe that if the disease becomes widespread among wild birds in Russia it is inevitable that some infected birds will reach western Europe.

Having spent thirty years watching migrant birds in Britain I believe that the risk of the disease spreading to wildfowl is far greater than the risk to poultry. Any infected wildfowl arriving are more likely to settle on a lake with other wildfowl than in a farmyard. When wildfowl arrive in Britain from Russia in the autumn they frequently associate with native wildfowl and the many feral and captive birds which populate nearly every urban and country park lake in Britain. Captive and feral wildfowl also represent a high risk of transmission to humans because of the close contact between birds and people at many sites where feeding the ducks and geese is a popular tradition. The disease is transmitted to humans by inhalation of infected material from dried faeces.

Most sites with feral wildfowl such as Canada Geese are also notable for the abundance of dried faeces, literally under people's noses. While the Government is right not to panic, the risk to human health is a very real one. There is an urgent need for preparations to contain any outbreak as soon as possible, a lesson which should have been learned from the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in 2001. With regard to the particular risk from captive/feral wildfowl I believe there are a number of measures which should be taken to improve the management of such populations. These include regular veterinary checks for disease, improved hygiene, discouraging the feeding of wildfowl through publicity, contingency plans for closing public access to wildfowl collections and culling any infected populations.

VAUGHAN GRANTHAM

CARDIFF

Sir: As someone from a Muslim background, I find the Muslim Council of Britain's defence of its right to promote its illiberal views by reference to freedom of speech somewhat disingenuous. Not very long ago many of its members openly supported the murder of Salman Rushdie because he had criticised Islam. The vast majority of Muslims who are moderate now need to move beyond the MCB, which is bringing Islam into disrepute and exacerbating the negative stereotypes that Muslims have to endure.

RAZA GRIFFITHS

STROOD, KENT

Sir: It is Muslims like Faisal Bodi (Opinion, 23 August) who are driving a wedge between themselves and mainstream British society.

Mr Bodi claims other religions all see themselves as superior. As a Jew I see Judaism as different, not better, and I celebrate that difference and respect other religions. I welcome the existence of a Muslim-Jewish Forum in my area and see it as a plank for understanding, not demonising each other. What I cannot accept is the Islamic belief that all other religions are inferior, and the declared endgame which appears to be for Islam to be in control of the world.

Nor do I like being called a pig, an ape or a dog by extremists in the name of Islam.

JOY WOLFE

CHEADLE, CHESHIRE

Sir: I applaud The Independent for printing Faisal Bodi's article "Panorama was a hatchet job on Muslims" (23 August), which I believe captures vividly the real feeling of frustration among Muslims. I agree wholeheartedly that there has been an effort "to keep Muslims and their faith in the blame frame, and our politicians out" by many sectors of the media following the atrocities in London. Panorama attempted to present anyone with political views as extremist.

I have felt dismayed by the isolation of Muslims in recent times. When the first Muslim state schools emerged, the debate about whether faith schools should even exist suddenly arose, despite the operation of other faith schools for decades. When Muslims pushed for religious discrimination laws to protect them, just as Jews and Sikhs have been under race discrimination laws, their efforts were opposed by secularists and comedians. Whenever a Palestinian undertakes a suicide bombing, Muslim representatives are expected to come out in vociferous condemnation. Yet no Jewish leader is held to account for acts of Israeli state terror.

Now, as fragile and divided a community as we are, we are beginning to establish a political platform to help represent our rights and interests. Instead of supporting this pro-active step toward integration and development, particularly by the Muslim Council of Britain, Muslims have once again been demonised. Any political expression by a Muslim organisation or leader is now an incitement to the "slippery slope" of terrorism - or so the Panorama documentary would have us believe.

DR RASHED AKHTAR

LEICESTER

Sir: Baroness Ludford (letter, 26 August) may feel uneasy about her grasp of recent history but she has depicted the background of Islamic revolutions and the role of the US (with a complicit Britain) more than adequately.

Coupled with your main article ("The US vs The UN", 26 August) on Bush's thug par excellence, John Bolton, destroying all the good the UN has been trying to do and the sentiments of Nick Blane (letter, 26 August) asking for imposition of trade sanctions on the US, we must say "enough is enough". How much longer are we to tolerate the destructive and selfish behaviour of the US administration? The world, led by Europe, needs to stand up against these global bullies , and if necessary take legitimate steps to punish the country which is the greatest threat to world peace, stability, health and social justice.

DR HANS BRUUN

UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD

Sir: Nick Blane (letter, 26 August) is correct in his assessment about trade sanctions on the Americans due to their inaction on global warming, but nothing will happen because it's the USA. As a family we boycotted South African goods under apartheid, Chilean goods under Pinochet and French goods after the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. There's nothing to stop anyone joining in to abandon Californian wine, raisins, McDonalds and all other American brands until the financial pinch is felt. IAN CHARLTON

WAKEFIELD, WEST YORKSHIRE

Sir: While Ellie Levenson may be right to say that we have started to view clothes as disposable, this is not something to celebrate ("China has saved us from sartorial snobbery", Opinion, 26 August). Costs are not being born by the consumer: conditions in China's factories are appalling, wages extremely low, and environmental protection practically non-existent.

Meanwhile we cheerfully discard our clothes when the fashion changes, thus contributing to landfill overload. And the whole process is heavy on fossil fuels (synthetics) and pesticides (cotton). There are alternatives: we should support fair trade initiatives, local industry, and charity shops. And yes, we should take care of our clothes so they last. The risk of appearing unfashionable is trivial compared to the risk of ecological meltdown.

PATRICK BROWNE

DERBY

Sir: Different spellings, like 'principle' and 'principal,' for identical-sounding words cause hassle because they serve no useful purpose (Errors & Omissions, 20 August). This has been confirmed in America where our two spellings of "practice" and "practise" have been conflated to just "practice", without giving trouble.

The multitude of English words which have one spelling for two or more meanings also confirms that there is never any good reason for spelling identically sounding words differently. We never, for example, have any problem with the many different meanings for "bar", as in "stand at a bar", "be put behind bars", and "all bar one". The same is true of at least 2,000 other words, e.g. "arch", "arm", "count", "post", "ground".

Different spellings for identical words are nothing but an educational and literary impediment, invented by pedants to make becoming a confident writer slower and more difficult than need be. What matters are the words that speakers and writers choose. The words of Shakespeare are still as apposite now as they were 400 years ago, despite many of his spellings having been corrupted by lesser minds since his day.

Over the last three centuries, teachers have wasted seas of red ink on correcting what they were trained to perceive as the wrong spellings. A sad by-product has been that far more pupils than need be continue to leave school virtually illiterate.

MASHA BELL

WAREHAM, DORSET

Sir: In the hunt for the deep-sunk HMAS Sydney, an Australian light cruiser (report, 17 August), it is the German raider - a disguised decoy freighter armed with half a dozen six-inch guns and four torpedo tubes - that enhances interest.

Raider G or Kormoran survived through disguises, sinking 11 ships, until challenged by Sydney, both meeting their end off Shark Bay, Western Australia, on 19 November 1941. The German declared itself Dutch. Sydney came within 2,000 yards but failed to consult shore intelligence, though its guns were ready trained on the obscure freighter.

Eventually, Sydney told its quarry to "hoist her secret call sign". Beaten in bluff, Kormoran fired all its weapons, hitting the bridge and turrets and striking with torpedoes until Sydney blew up. So also the raider, after fire reached its own mines and explosives, except that most of its 400 crew reached Perth - but "of Sydney, hardly a trace was found".

Captain Roskill, in The War of the Sea, tells the tale fully to show the crucial need to beat the raiders' bluff by seeking shore affirmation as to who they are not. Roskill adds: "That system was later perfected."

By the end of 1941, some seven German armed raiders had eliminated a hundred Allied merchant ships.

A J STACPOOLE OSB

AMPLEFORTH ABBEY YORK

Sir: Your focus on prison overcrowding and its effects is very timely and welcome; and you have very accurately reported my views on its corrosive effects ("At breaking point", Editorial, 22 August). However, I did not say that "hardline rhetoric" was at the root of the current surge in the prison population.

As I said in the full interview, the reality is more complex. I pointed out that messages have been mixed - and indeed that ministers have on several occasions signalled that prison should be used only when necessary. That message needs to be clear and reiterated.

But I also stressed the need to have more effective interventions outside prison, to deal with mental health, drugs and other issues: either instead of or after prison. Without those choices for sentencers, and support for those leaving prison, prisons will continue to be over-full and to have revolving doors. And that will have very damaging consequences for those in prison, and for the communities they return to.

ANNE OWERS

HM CHIEF INSPECTOR OF PRISONS LONDON SW1

Sir: Ian Turnbull is being churlish about cycling on footpaths (letter, 25 August). It may be an "offence"- what isn't these days? - but it's a perfectly reasonable defensive action. Anyone who knows a lot of cyclists knows of at least one killed by the carelessness of a car or lorry driver. The fact is that cyclists and pedestrians are on the same side, and need to support each other against this relentless predation by motorists. Nothing would please the motoring lobby more than to see cyclists and pedestrians snapping at each other.

GERALD HAIGH

BEDWORTH, WARWICKSHIRE

Sir: I presume all the people moaning about cyclists on pavements do not have children. Roads here are busy, the standard of driving is generally awful and aggressive, and my teenaged son is at that awkward stage of poor co-ordination and concentration. It might help if the government made wearing helmets compulsory for all cyclists to ensure teens would wear them. However I will still instruct my children to stay off the roads, as I'd like them to reach adulthood.

DOROTHY LEWIS

EGHAM, SURREY

Sir: Perhaps Frank Scott could remind me: just what do HIV, ebola, smallpox and malaria contribute towards recycling ("Divine plan for viruses", letter, August 26)? Apart from all those nicely composted dead bodies, of course. And surely the intelligent designer could have come up with some slightly less gruesome ways of providing those. Like just letting us all die of old age, perhaps.

MIKE PARKER

WYMONDHAM, LEICESTERSHIRE

Sir: Further to Steven Hill's letter ("Designer Diseases", 25 August), might I add that as well as being evil this intelligent designer must also be rather stupid. After all, if you had created a beautiful, bounteous planet such as Earth, would you really make humans the dominant species?

HELEN LENEY

KINGSTON BAGPUIZE, OXFORDSHIRE

Sir: Has it not occurred to Eric Houghton (Letters, 25 August) in his criticism of subtitles for foreign language TV programmes that other countries also have viewers with less than perfect eyesight and dyslexia? In addition to excellent and early language teaching, one reason why the linguistic skills of much of mainland Europe's population puts most Britons to shame is daily exposure to English with simultaneous translation in subtitles.

PETER WHITBY

PORLOCK, SOMERSET

Sir: What's all the fuss about "innit", in your recent correspondence? It's just a standard construction fer emphasisin' wot yer sayin', innit? Change the accent and fill in the missing letters, and you'll find it used in Wales in the same way, for example, "I'm going to the shops, isn't it". And the French use "n'est-ce pas", which sounds civilised, but is just "innit", isn't it?

CHRISTINE EVANS-PUGHE,

ST ALBANS, HERTFORSHIRE